Warning Signs
by Rhaegal Nymeria Stark
Summary: Warning signs. They had to have been there. Even before Balalaika put a gun to Rock's head that time in Japan, there had to have been warning signs. But Revy missed them all. Warnings for very dubious consent. Major character death. Not related to "Safety in destruction."


Disclaimer: Own nothing. Not this series or the Oomph song, "Brennende Liebe," "burning love." Sorry if I translate the lyrics badly. I know nothing about German.

Not related to my other fic, "Safety in destruction." Rock is the only one that dies in this.

 **Warning Signs**

Warning signs. There had to have been warning signs right there in front of her. Even before Balalaika put a gun to Rock's head that time in Japan, there had to have been warning signs. But Revy missed them all. Or ignored them all.

Sure, Rock and Balalaika, before Japan had had virtually no contact with each other. So there was no reason to think that something could or should have stuck out then. But when Revy really thought about it, really took the time to look at the memories and the things she missed, she knew she couldn't find those signs. What times had Rock been around Balalaika? For the life of her Revy couldn't remember any that stuck out as causing as much danger to his personal self as the encounter in Japan.

Not when the Lovelace maid attacked. Not when Rock had been abducted by the guerillas in the jungle. Balalaika hadn't been anywhere near there that time.

The Lovelace maid? Any interference from Balalaika, Revy was sure had been about political issues, nothing tied to her. She and Balalaika hadn't even started seeing each other until after that. A few days after Revy rescued Rock from the guerillas.

Japan was the only time when Rock and Balalaika had had any real time together. And the one warning sign that Revy had been given had been a gun to Rock's head while he was thrown against the hood of a car.

That should have been the only sign Revy would need that things were going to eventually end badly for Rock. It wasn't. She thought if Balalaika chose not to shoot him then in the garage, then as long as he kept his big fucking mouth shut, he'd be safe.

She had been wrong.

Rock hadn't been safe. But it hadn't been because of what happened in the garage. Not because of the Washimine clan's heir.

It was because of _her._

Revy remembered Balalaika's words of warning in Japan well. _Don't ever hope to have a life like his._

She knew those words now for what they were. They were a warning. What Balalaika had meant by those words were, _You are mine and mine only._

 _How many nights have I lived inside of you?_

 _How many dreams has your pain rewarded me?_

 _How many nights, have you already lost yourself?_

 _How many dreams have I given a new birth to you?_

It didn't occur to Revy until now that when she saw Balalaika speaking roughly to her closest soldier, Boris, she had been reprimanding him. Revy didn't know at the time about what. But when she saw the way Balalaika looked at her, if only briefly, it hit her. It had seemed ridiculous at the time. But now she was more sure of it after Rock's murder.

Balalaika had been reprimanding Boris for aiming a gun at her. Even if it had been for show, he had still aimed to kill. Not to just injure.

The times that Revy had spent with Balalaika and the Russian words she had looked up on Benny's computer behind his back helped her learn enough to know that Balalaika had quintessentially barked at Boris to "aim for her legs or arms only next time. And don't damage her permanently."

Revy was left with the question of what the fuck? She assumed when she translated the words she heard, using Benny's computer that she heard the wrong words or spelled the words wrong when typing them out. That had to have been it. It was the only thing that made sense to Revy.

Sure, she and Balalaika had been sleeping together for a while now. But Revy had never thought that Balalaika had seen it as anything more than a physical thing. As much as Revy would have liked it to be more, she knew better than to think she was anything more except a fuck buddy. Or that was what she had thought at the time.

Even when Revy had driven up to the house where the negotiations between Balalaika and the Kosa Council were taking place on her motorcycle to pick Rock up, and Balalaika had drawn the attention of all the reporters and the police to herself instead of letting Revy and Rock get exposed, Revy had always figured it had been a means to an end. Or a show of dominance. Nothing even a little about emotion like affection and definitely not about love.

Besides, Russian words were hard to spell. They were long and complicated. So fuck if Revy knew what Fry-Face said to Boris.

She had disregarded those thoughts or the memory of what had to have been a sloppy and incorrect translation on the computer. Fuck it. Who cared? She and Rock had both escaped with their lives and lived to drink, smoke and shit another day. So who cared?

Revy should have seen it as the huge warning sign she didn't realize it was.

It made her wonder how many other signs she had missed, even if they were as subtle as fuck.

 _From my burning love_

 _No demon can save you_

 _From my burning love_

 _No god or miracle can free you anymore_

When she and Rock had come back from Japan, Rock's soul damaged beyond repair and Revy slashed up and bandaged, they had thought that they would have it easy for a few weeks. And to anyone who didn't know how to see the warning signs like Revy had not been able to, those next few weeks HAD been easy and even peaceful and fucking quiet and all that good shit.

But there had been a huge, flashing neon red warning sign that passed them during those weeks.

A warning sign that Revy just hadn't seen. How had she not fucking seen it?

Balalaika came by the Lagoon Company's office. And while she was pleasantly making small talk with Dutch, everyone in the room recognizing the polite talk for show, Balalaika's eyes traveled to Revy and Rock who came into the room. It was the look in Balalaika's eyes when the older woman saw Revy's injuries that should have made alarms go off. The look in Balalaika's eyes should have told Revy that Rock's life was in danger.

It hadn't. And the consequences followed. The icy anger that flashed in Balalaika's eyes when she saw Revy's wounds was unmistakable. At first, Revy had thought it was because Balalaika was angry at HER. Revy thought that she had fucked up in some way. She wondered if she hadn't come to her for one of their "fucking sessions" or something. But that warning sign hadn't been for Revy.

There was that big, neon red warning sign. The neon red warning sign had been when Balalaika shot that gaze over to Rock, only for a second before the scarred woman looked back to Dutch and the rage that was all too recognizable just disappeared. A cold chill went down Revy's back when she saw that. She looked at Rock, but Rock had been busy staring at his shoes, his eyes dead to anyone who glanced at him. His time in Japan still haunted him.

Rock had missed the look of murder that had been directed right at him that day. So he had missed the warning sign too.

And Revy had missed it because she never thought that this would happen. Why would Balalaika do it? Rock hadn't tried to get between Balalaika and her goals since Japan. He hadn't mentioned justice ever again after Japan. He hadn't even spoken to Balalaika from what Revy knew, since Japan.

Despite all that? Rock was dead. Despite Rock behaving himself in Balalaika's eyes, Rock was dead.

His body riddled with bullet holes. Revy wasn't a detective, but she fucking knew who did it. She fucking. KNEW.

 _How many nights have I haunted you?_

 _How many dreams long, have you already cursed me?_

 _How many nights have I already lived off you?_

 _How many dreams long, has your heart nourished me?_

When she confronted Balalaika, the tears that just threatened to burn her eyes blissfully never coming as she screamed at the Russian mafia woman who just stared at her, smoking her cigar like she had no fucking care in the world, Revy was sure she'd either be shot through the head, get her neck broken or just die right there from grief.

One of those causes of death would be less physically painful than the others. But she wondered which would be faster.

Her cutlasses were being held captive by Balalaika's men and she was surrounded in the building by her army. She and Balalaika might have been alone in the room, but Revy knew if she so much as did one thing out of line, it would lead to her brutal death.

So when she hoarsely demanded to know why from the Russian woman, she didn't even feel a chill when the older lifted herself up from her leather seat, put the cigar out in the ashtray on her desk and walked around her desk and walked right over to Revy. Revy didn't even feel anticipation when she heard the clicking of heels against the wooden floor, then the sound getting absorbed by the dark blue carpet.

Balalaika loomed over Revy, blue eyes piercing. Revy didn't even flinch and she didn't look away. Dammit, if all this had been because she really HAD missed the warning signs, if they were there, or ignored them, then she deserved whatever Balalaika was going to do to her. It was her fault just as much as the Russian woman's that Rock was dead. Before Revy could get ready for a physical attack of some kind, her chin was gripped tightly, but not painfully and her face lifted up. Balalaika leaned close, extremely close and Revy's heart skipped a beat.

But she hissed, pulling away from Balalaika's hand, swinging her right left arm in a fist. Her fist was caught instantly by the wrist. Her arm was pushed back, arm twisted around to the extent that that it was painful. This time, Revy flinched. That sharp nailed hand that had her chin, held tight and the scarred woman leaned closer.

Balalaika spoke next in a smooth voice drenched in the scent of cigar, "Why wouldn't I have done it, Two Hands? I know your limits. I'm sure you have that admirable endless confidence you always do that you have no limits. But I know them. Rock, that weak, idiotic sack of shit, almost killed you in Japan."

 _From my burning love_

 _No demon can save you_

 _From my burning love_

 _No god or miracle can free you anymore_

The words threw a wrench in anything Revy was gonna say. Her eyes widened. If she were planning to say anything, Balalaika had discarded those plans. That was why Balalaika had done it? That was why she took out a gun and shot eight rounds into Rock's chest and left his body in the waters of the harbor? THAT was why?

"I went up against the Washimine bitch's guard." Revy snapped, trying to pull out of Balalaika's steel grip, but to no avail. "Jumbo. The badass with the sword. _I_ decided to take him on. Fuck, I WANTED to. Rock didn't almost get me killed. I did. So did Jumbo boy."

Balalaika spat, mouth turning in a sneer. "Oh really?" Balalaika's voice sounded intentionally high with her emphasis on the words. "Tell me, Rebecca, do you really believe you would have been there if it hadn't been for Rock?"

The question made Revy gasp. Would she have been at the piers and would she have fought against Jumbo in the first place, if not for Rock? Revy hated the question. Because she knew the answer.

It had been the only time when Rock's well,…morals got in the way and could have gotten Revy killed. It could have gotten Rock killed too, that idiot. It didn't matter now. But it could have gotten them both killed.

Anger stirred in Revy's belly. She snarled, her nostrils flaring and she tried to struggle out of Balalaika's hands again. Balalaika let Revy's chin go and grabbed Revy's other arm, holding them both behind the gunslinger's back. She still loomed over the younger, eyes burning into Revy. She held Revy's wrists together with her right hand, her grip like steel. Her left arm pulled away from Revy's wrists and came back around, her left hand cupping Revy's face.

"Why do YOU care if I almost got killed, sis?" Revy spat. "It doesn't effect your business, so why the fuck would you give a shit? What? I'm the only gun person there is that Dutch could hire? Or I'm just that hot a piece of ass that you like so much that you can't stand the thought of not getting to fuck me again?" Revy sneered the words out, eyes enraged. She saw Balalaika's eyes narrowing now. The matter of their relationship was secret. Balalaika's men knew and didn't judge. It wasn't hard to figure out. And Balalaika's men knew that she had her needs.

But the rest of Roanapur, let alone the rest of the Lagoon Company? No one else knew. Revy had a feeling Dutch had guessed, but kept his business and opinion to himself.

"You," Balalaika growled into Revy's face, "You dare ask that." Balalaika bent her head down, not waiting for the younger to pull away again and swooped in, her lips locking with Revy's in a hot, vicious kiss. Balalaika forced her tongue into Revy's gasping mouth, invading it, stroking her tongue against the younger's.

 _Come and burn your skin_

 _Waste the pain deep inside yourself_

 _Come and burn your skin_

After an unimaginable and unbearably tense and overwhelming time that felt like forever passed, Balalaika broke the kiss as a no longer struggling Revy gasped for air.

Balalaika took her hand from Revy's face and buried her fingers in Revy's hair, just beneath where Revy's ponytail was and pulled Revy's head back. Balalaika bent her head again and bit Revy's throat hard, right at the apex between the column of Revy's throat and her right shoulder. Revy cried out, body jolting in Balalaika's hands and mouth.

Balalaika bit the flesh enough to make it bruise and pulled back, tongue slipping out and licking against the bruised flesh lewdly. She pulled away from Revy's neck, watching with pleasure as Revy panted. She took her hand from Revy's hair and grabbed Revy's chin again, making the younger look at her. "He put what was mine in danger, Rebecca." Balalaika said darkly. "I know what your limits are. I've known your handiwork long enough. I saw what the swordsman did to you. Rock almost got you killed."

Balalaika's pleasured grin turned to a grim snarl, her ice blue eyes somehow colder than before. "For that, I put rounds into him and left his body in the harbor to rot like he deserved. His foolishness almost killed you, _vozlyublennaya."_ Revy shivered. Balalaika's ice blue eyes were hard, but a look passed through them that made Revy not just shiver, but feel like she needed to escape, to run. Balalaika had called her that before. More than one time before. She didn't know what it meant. But some part of her was afraid of looking it up on the computers. She would probably misspell it about a dozen times, but she was afraid of what would happen when she typed it the right way. She was scared of what the word would mean.

There was a difference between the words she had heard thrown between Balalaika and Boris. The words between them could have been taken as business only.

When Balalaika said it only to her and she said it with that _look_ in her eyes, Revy knew that she wouldn't be able to cope with what the word meant. She knew that she wouldn't be able to deal with it, so she never looked the word up. It was safer that way. So she never went to the company's computers to look that information up.

Revy struggled still in Balalaika's hands. "Let me go." She growled at Balalaika. "You made your point, sis. He's dead. Fucking dead. You fucking happy now, huh? Now. Let. Me. The fuck. Go!"

Balalaika let out a morbid chuckle, snickering. She pushed Revy's head closer to her, leaning close by Revy's right ear and whispered darkly into the younger's ear, "You want me to let you go? Why? Would you have gone with _him_ into your nice little fairytale land, Two Hands?"

Revy growled. There was that tone again. The same one that Balalaika had used in the garage in Japan. _Don't ever hope to have a life like his._

Balalaika hissed, voice dark, "He couldn't have handled you. He wouldn't have known how to."

Revy glared up at Balalaika, the need already starting to rule her body. "And you do?" She challenged, knowing this wasn't a good idea. Her teeth clenched, thinking of Rock, anger burning her blood. Balalaika stared at her, the ice in eyes never wavering. "Do not challenge me, Revy. You will not win this." Revy glared up at Balalaika, teeth bared. Why not? Rock was dead. Balalaika had done it because she thought Rock put Revy in danger. Why not throw her safety away? Revy did that on a regular fucking basis anyway. Sure, the stakes were way higher with the head of Hotel Moscow right on top of her, but what the hell? Rock just died and Revy knew that she couldn't just walk away with this without a fight. Maybe she wouldn't walk away at all. But she couldn't just walk away after what Balalaika did to Rock. She just couldn't.

Revy sneered at the older woman, mouth parting in a snarl. "I already have. You wouldn't have killed Rock if you didn't think he was a threat. That's already a victory. You were threatened by him." Revy's grin became dark. "What's the matter, sis? Scared I was gonna run off with him to Japan and be his wifey?"

Balalaika's nostrils flared and her icy eyes became balls of blue burning flames. She hissed and dragged Revy over to her desk, pulling her arms and using her other arm to push Revy back to the desk. Balalaika grabbed Revy's arms, one wrist each in one hand. She pushed Revy down and spread Revy's arms above her head roughly, pinning the younger woman.

Balalaika was now just inches from her lover's face.

 _From my burning love_

 _(How many nights long)_

 _No demon can save you_

 _(How many dreams long)_

 _From my burning love_

 _No god or miracle can free you anymore_

The woman's scarred face leaned in, only now an inch from Revy's challenging, angry expression. "I'm warning you now, Two Hands." Balalaika growled, her eyes as cold as her words. "You are treading on dangerous ground." Revy said back, ignoring the chills she got. "Don't I always? And besides, if you were threatened by a salary man that never carried a gun, then I'm not feeling very intimidated, sis."

Revy knew that she may have just signed her death warrant. How to make Hotel Moscow obliterate you? Wipe you completely off the face of the earth? Simple. Tell them to their face that you weren't scared of them or that you thought they were weak. That was one way to do it without killing any of them. Do that, and you would be on your way to an early grave, which would be after a most likely slow and painful death.

So after what Revy said to Balalaika and seeing the older woman's eyes be as hard as steel, Revy expected many painful possibilities. One of them was Balalaika just snapping her neck, all past encounters between them forgotten. Another possibility was that Balalaika would order her men in here and have them load a bunch of fucking slugs into Revy and clean up her bloody mess of a corpse off the floor. Or maybe Balalaika would shoot her up herself like the scarred woman had done to Rock. It would be poetic enough, wouldn't it? Balalaika could do it and sit back and sneer that Revy had chosen Rock's life and so it ended with her fucking death. How fucking poetic was that? Another possibility? Balalaika could torture her to death. She was twisted enough.

There were a thousand other possibilities for what could have happened and none of them ended well for Revy, and she knew that.

What happened was the last thing Revy had been expecting. Balalaika, instead of raising a hand to Revy or throwing her off the desk or calling for her men or reaching for a gun or any of that, kept both of Revy's arms pinned above Revy's head, her left hand holding Revy's wrists together. Her right hand reached down and pulled up Revy's black shirt in a second and grabbed the left cup of Revy's bra, pulling so hard it tore violently.

Revy gasped, her breast exposed. Balalaika's hot mouth closed over her nipple, biting hard. Her body arched. Revy hissed, mind fuzzy with arousal, "So that's it, sis? You're just gonna fuck me and everything's forgotten?" Revy heard a chuckle against her breasts. The vibrations made Revy shiver and a heat run down to her core.

Balalaika raised herself, head lifted and the Russian kissed Revy's throat, then kissed Revy's chin and lips. She chuckled in a heated voice, "I never thought you should forget what I did. But I'd thought you'd try to use that head of yours, Rebecca. Rock didn't belong in our world. And he did not belong in your world. And you didn't belong in his world. He didn't understand you. He never would. He would expect you to change. Something we both know you can't do. Why would you when you could have everything here?"

Rebecca shuddered, replaying Balalaika's words from the garage. They had much more meaning now.

"You thought I'd go with him to Japan." Revy whispered, the realization tearing at her anger. That, and some shock. She never would have thought this was over jealousy. Not from Balalaika. Balalaika's cold gaze wavered at last, but only for a moment. She tore her eyes away from Revy and looked away, before staring back down at Revy. "You are mine." Balalaika said without question. "And that….. _weak_ man thought he knew you. Thought he understood you. The fool." She husked the final word out and closed her mouth over Revy's mouth, tongue pushing inside Revy's mouth, sliding her tongue along Revy's.

Without awaiting an answer, Balalaika kept her right hand on both of Revy's wrists, holding them up above the gunslinger's head captive, her lower torso pinning Revy down and her right hand undid Revy's shorts, hand shoving in, clawed fingers playing with Revy's lower lips.

With this much dominance and this much control over her, Revy hated to admit it, but she found any resistance she might have summoned otherwise, nonexistent. She wanted Balalaika inside her. Now. Despite being Rock's murderer, she wanted Balalaika in her. Now.

Before she could help herself, Revy bucked into Balalaika's hand a few times in insistence, whimpering against Balalaika's mouth. She felt Balalaika smirk into the kiss.

Balalaika parted from Revy and grinned down at the younger, pinned out over the desk. "Good girl." She practically purred to the gunslinger. In only a few seconds, the Russian had shimmied down Revy's shorts, the jean shorts around Revy's knees now and without even waiting for Revy's last bits of consent, removed her hands from Revy's arms and both of her hands went to Revy's legs, lifting the younger up off the floor and heaving her to lie along the desk.

Revy gasped and before she could help it, she was lying horizontally along the desk, the papers, ashtray and other things being shoved off by Balalaika. Revy's legs were then spread apart violently, each of Balalaika's hands locked around Revy's knees, keeping her legs apart.

The Russian grinned, claws digging into Revy's legs, both legs bleeding somewhat from the piercing, causing Revy to give out a delicious gasp, her back arching in pleasure already. Scratching her claws along Revy's right leg, spilling more blood out onto the desk, Balalaika ducked her head between Revy's legs and slipped her tongue immediately into Revy's cunt, pulling it in and out of the gunslinger's entrance as her lover squirmed helplessly on the desk, screaming, Rock's death sealing them together in blood.

 _From my burning love_

 _(How many nights long)_

 _No demon can save you_

 _(How many dreams long)_

 _From my burning love_

 _No god or miracle can free you anymore_

 **So I was listening to this song the other day, since I love this band and when I was curious about the lyrics and looked them up online, I thought, 'wow, this really sums up RevyxBalalaika.' For me it does, anyway. So there's the song with the fic. And translated, _vozlyublennaya_ means "beloved." Roughly, I think, but I might have translated it wrong.**


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